First female member of Hamas' political bureau killed in Gaza

Hamas Political Bureau member Jamila Al-Shanti was martyred after occupation aircraft bombed her home in Gaza City.

Medical sources reported that the 68-year-old was killed today after a bombing by Israeli occupation aircraft at dawn on her home in Gaza.

Al-Shanti (Um Abdullah) founded the women’s wing of the Hamas movement in Gaza and was the first female member of the political bureau.

She obtained a doctorate degree in education administration in 2013, from the UAE.

In 2006, she was elected as a member of the Legislative Council for the Hamas Change and Reform bloc.

In 2013, Al-Shanti was appointed Minister of Women in the Hamas government that was governing the Gaza Strip at the time.

Al-Shanti’s name became prominent on 3 November 2006 when a women’s march that she led succeeded in breaking a siege imposed by the occupation army on a mosque in the town of Beit Hanoun, in the northern Gaza Strip.

Three days later, her house was bombed by Israeli planes, resulting in the death of her sister-in-law, Nahla Al-Shanti, and two other people.

She was the widow of Hamas co-founder Abdel Aziz Al-Rantisi.

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